Frost mage
Category:Mages A frost mage is a Mage who spent more Talent Points in the Frost tree than any of the others. Talents in the Frost tree focus on improving the damage of frost spells, as well as improving the chill effects associated with those spells. A frost mage's damage is respectable, but not as high as a fire mage or certain arcane mage specializations. The frost tree is generally regarded as having the best defensive and survivability talents for the mage. Also frost is especially useful in kiting, allowing the frost mage to solo many difficult mobs. Role Through use of freezing and chill effects, a frost mage is able to keep enemies at range and kite mobs. They possess high-damage single-target spells such as Frostbolt and Ice Lance. Frost mages are also well equipped for AoE Grinding: through use of Cone of Cold, Frost Nova and Blizzard, they are capable of dealing significant damage while sustaining very little. End-game content before the expansion placed a high priority on frost damage for mages, with some enemies being completely immune to fire. As a result the typical pre-expansion end-game mage was very likely to be specialized as a frost mage. This is no longer always the case. With the inclusion of spell penetration and very few enemies that are entirely immune to any one school of magic, end-game mages can be found with almost any specialization. Signature talents The frost tree has many talents and abilities that improve survivability in PvP and PvE situations. Some popular abilities are: * Ice Block (Frost, Tier 5) - You become encased in a block of ice, protecting you from all physical attacks and spells for 10 sec, but during that time you cannot attack, move or cast spells. Also causes Hypothermia, preventing you from recasting Ice Block for 30 sec. * Ice Barrier (Frost, Tier 7) - Instantly shields you, absorbing X damage. Lasts 60 sec. While the shield holds, spells will not be interrupted. Though frost does not have the damage potential that Fire spells do, a number of talents improve frost damage to a respectable level. Frostbolt is the frost mage's primary damage tool. * Improved Frostbolt (Frost, Tier 1) - Reduces the casting time of your Frostbolt spell by X sec (.5 sec max). * Ice Shards (Frost, Tier 2) - Increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Frost spells by Y% (100% max). * Piercing Ice (Frost, Tier 3) - Increases the damage done by your Frost spells by X% (6% max). * Arctic Winds (Frost, Tier 7) - Increases all Frost damage you cause by X% (5% max) and reduces the chance melee and ranged attacks will hit you by Y% (5% max). * Empowered Frostbolt (Frost, Tier 8) - Your Frostbolt spell gains an additional X% (10% max) of your bonus spell damage effects and an additional Y% (5% max) chance to critically strike. One potent source of mage damage is through frozen targets. At level 64, mages learn the Ice Lance spell, which deals considerable damage to frozen targets. Furthermore, through the Shatter talent, mages can gain a significant chance to crit on frozen targets. * Frostbite (Frost, Tier 2) - Gives your Chill effects a X% (15% max) chance to freeze the targets for 5 sec. * Improved Frost Nova (Frost, Tier 2) - Reduces the cooldown or your Frost Nova spell by X sec (4 sec max). * Shatter (Frost, Tier 4) - Increases the critical strike chance of all your spells against frozen targets by X% (50% max). An important frost mage tactic is frost kiting. Frost mages are capable of kiting single mobs such as certain tough elites, as well as large groups of mobs with AoE. A number of talents improve the mage's chill effects: * Permafrost (Frost, Tier 2) - Increases the duration of your chill effects by X sec (3 sec max) and reduces the target's speed by an additional Y% (10% max). * Improved Blizzard (Frost, Tier 3) - Adds a chill effect to your Blizzard spell. This effect lowers the target's movement speed by X% (65% max). Lasts 1.50 sec. Other Builds Arcane mage Fire mage A complete list of possible Mage's Talent Builds can be found here. Videos *Frost Mage at His Finest *Ragnaros Speed Kill Talent Tree